Recently, like yesterday (which is as close to recent as one can get except for today) we got a Melitta Drip Coffee Pot. It is not electric, so you have to heat the water first and then pour the water into the cone shaped basket/filter filled with finely ground coffee. What took me so long?
I consider myself a coffee snob (Gourmet??) and the first cup in the morning is tantamount to a religious experience.
With eyes half closed and a body that will not stand erect, I stumble each morning into the kitchen to assemble the makings of my caffeine addiction.
With an electric maker, you just have to pour water into the reservoir, put a filter in the basket, and put the coffee in the filter and turn it on. It does the rest.
If you are like me, you GRIND the dark, oily beans each and every time you make a pot. None of that pre-ground stuff for this snob.
Waiting gives you ample time to wash your face, slather it with moisturizer (so you don't get wrinkles-which is a whole other blog subject), fill the cat bowls, find a robe, get a cup and by that time the coffee is ready. You can even pause the dripping process to cheat and get a cup before it is completely done. Convenient, yes, but something is missing. What is it? Oh, I know-FLAVOR!! It does not matter what kind of beans I buy or who roasts them-Starbucks is just like Peet's is just like SLO is just like Green Mountain. You get the idea. They all look and smell wonderful. The dark, almost black oily beans, pungent aroma and eye popping. Something was always missing. It did not matter which coffee maker I had. Mr. Coffee, Black and Decker, Proctor Silex, Krups, Braun. etc, they all tasted the same. The coffee was hot and smelled like coffee but the flavor was just NOT there. It was not full of the wake me up, put lead in my pencil (that phrase was my fathers and while it really does not work for a female, I still chose to use it for literary purposes-so you get the drift.) get me started on my day that I NEED. Now need really does matter here. I gave up caffeine once. I was told by a doctor after he found a lump on one of my breasts that I had fibro cystic breast disease-lumps caused by among other things, caffeine. Apparently these lumps permeated my mammary glands that sometimes cannot be distinguished from lumps that may need a biopsy. But I digress...back to coffee. I slowly weaned myself from this magnificent dark brown morning ritual. Weaning oneself is NOT an easy task. If you do not do this slowly and methodically, you will get a headache, the like of which you have never had before. Head exploding, eye bulging, ear ringing headaches. Not to mention you walked around in a fog all day. I already suffered from migraines periodically and definitely did not intend to add insult to injury. No coffee, no cokes, no chocolate! WAIT! NO CHOCOLATE! Oh to hell with lumpy boobs. I cannot live without caffeine. I NEED caffeine. I CRAVE caffeine. I'd STEAL for caffeine! You probably have guessed by now that life without caffeine for me, was not an option.
It was not merely the drinking of it. I missed the aroma, the ritual of each morning. A cup of Joe and the morning paper allowed me time to wake up and begin a new day. De-Caf just did not get it. I drink it for the caffeine. I like the caffeine. I NEED the caffeine. Even if after one cup you end up peeing about a gazillion times. Why is that, anyway?
Where was I? Oh yes, the Melitta. My sister had (maybe still does) a great drip coffee maker, Chemex and Melitta is the Chemex's poor cousin. I gave the old Mr. C (we are close enough for me to call Mr. Coffee, Mr. C) a good cleaning and telling him that I might come back someday, (well, I MIGHT) and packed him away. I placed the shining, unstained Melitta on the counter, who by the way was acting a bit smug knowing she had banished Mr. C to some Gulag somewhere. I put in the cone shaped filter, seemingly made this way for the sole purpose of ensuring that all the coffee is covered once you pour the water in. I ground my new favorite roast of coffee beans, SLO's Rocket very fine, per the instructions. Now I just have to wait for the water on the stove to get hot. I really must get a teapot for this. Sitting half asleep, this is an arduous task. Mr. C allows one to get all this ready the night before-the water and everything -and all you have to do is turn the button on.
Still quite groggy from a nights sound sleep, the cat bowls taken care of, the face is washed and moisturized, the robe is wrapped around my half dead feeling body, I waited. Mr. C was on my mind because he never kept me waiting so long. Or so it seemed. I was just about to give into Mr. C's demands that could be heard, albeit a bit muffled from the box I had him in,when the water was ready. I slowly poured the water over the finely ground beans. It began to drip slowly. I added more water into the cone filter as it dripped through completely saturating each lovely ground bean. Mr. C's demands were now secondary to the task at hand. My mouth was watering for a taste of what I could smell was going to be great tasting Rocket coffee. After all this IS what I am after. That dripping was music to my ears. The aroma was overwhelming. The coffee looked like-OMG-COFFEE! But the true test would be in the taste.
IT WAS WONDERFUL! It tasted rich, robust, no bitterness. The flavor was distinguishable from just plain coffee. THIS is how coffee is supposed to taste.
I can now taste the difference from French Roast and Sumatra. From Rocket to Stormin' Norman', from Chatterbox to Morning Fog Lifter. One cup was no longer a given. I could drink the whole pot.
Of course now, instead of peeing a gazillion times, I spend most of my day in the bathroom. I may not be able to blog again. But I AM drinking really good, flavorful coffee. The trade off is worth it. AT least while living near a bathroom, I am totally awake.
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